Every Day Is A Gift. I can see that more clearly now. The immeasurable fury of nature is awesome at the least. I think it's God's way of letting us know he may let us run the show sometimes, but he is the director. I do not say that lightly. We can put a camera on Mars, but we can't accurately predict the weather. Sometimes we are humbled by God's grace, other times humbled by his power.
For my brief political fact one of the first things that the GOP controlled Senate slashed from the budget was NOAH and the Tsunami early detection system funding. California, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida and the whole East and West coast take heed. Cutting spending in areas that could cost thousands of lives and billions in treasure is backwards thinking. The early warning system in Japan gave the population 30 minutes to reach higher ground. Thousands of lives were undoubtedly saved from the Noah warnings.
The devastation that continues to rock Japan, and the world, is a quick way in and out of the pity pot. My last few chapters have been dark and sad, yet starkly real. The challenges we are going through with our daughter's recovery is day to day. My Lab Cooter's health is day to day. My job search is day to day. Our economic health is on life support but we are alive. Every day is a gift. I see it more clearly daily.
Sometimes as humans we tend to focus on the things we don't have instead of rejoicing for the things we do. I know I do. Once my snowflake of self-pity starts rolling it can become a massive ball of icy chaos before I can say Frosty the Snowman. I don't know if everyone does it, but I can't be happy in my discontentment when there is one thing that is out of whack in my world. I tend to start searching for more of what's wrong in my life so I can have a big fat, sour life sucker to pout with.
My wife can make a simple correction or "suggestion" to me about how I am putting the plates in the dishwasher the wrong way and I'm off to the races. Suddenly I'm catapulted into a complete reevaluation of my life. Is our marriage failing? Should I move to Nassau? She probably has someone else! I'm joining the Peace Corp! I can go from not putting the coffee cups on the right rack to eating wolverines in the jungles of Nicaragua in the span of about 2 minutes!
If I don't catch the ice mass when it is still a snow ball I'm in for a very long day with myself. As if taking cues from my wife's remarks, the whole world seems to turn their focus on giving me a turd sandwich to munch on for the rest of the day. Drivers cut me off. I get flipped off for unknown reasons. It starts to pour as I open my car door. My coffee spills down my shirt on the last sip. It is like a universal conspiracy has been set in motion to insure my day goes horribly!
I know very little, but some things I know for sure. If I think that God takes time out of his day to mess with me it's time to reassess my size in the universe. I also know that people, places and things don't make us happy. We allow them to make us happy or sad, angry or indifferent. Feelings are an inside job. There have been times when my wife has called me a "big baby" and I laugh at her amusing observation. Yet other times when she has called me a "big baby" I have puckered my lip and said I AM NOT A BABY! YOU ARE TIMES INFINITY!
The key to healthy, right thinking is in my approach. I start my day by saying to myself "God, please get into my head before I do." That usually starts things out on a good note. If I roll out of bed and say it's gonna be "one of those days," it will be. If I find that my day is not going the way I want it to, I can stop, regroup, check what is really bothering me and start all over again. The choice is mine. When my day is filled with more thank you's than pleases I know I'm on the right track.
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